While this game was the west's introduction to Nintendo's quirky, then-budding life simulator franchise, the game is actually a GameCube port of Doubutsu no Mori for the Nintendo 64, heavily modified in localization to give westerners an experience analogous to what Japanese players got. The localization was apparently so impressive that it got re-localized for Japan with added features, effectively making it a localization of a localization of a port.

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Debug Mode

This page or section needs more images.There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this.Specifically: Get screenshots, post them, figure out other debug functions, make this not be walls of text.

The game has a debug mode which can be activated by setting the disc ID version field to 0x99. Use a hex editor to change byte #7 (0x00000007) of the ISO/GCM file. It works on all versions – the North American, European, Japanese (both versions), and Australian games can all be modified in this way.

Controller 2 features everything else. Most buttons, when pressed once, will show or hide a debug display. The C-stick is four separate buttons, one for each of Up, Down, Left, and Right. R changes the game speed rather than displaying something on-screen.

Controller 2 also has two-button combinations, all of which involve holding L, R, or Start. All but one of the possible combinations opens memory editors of some kind (the exception being holding R and pressing Down on the D-Pad, which pauses and unpauses the game). Memory editors can be opened by holding one of the three buttons mentioned earlier, and pressing another button twice. For example, holding L and tilting the C-Stick left twice opens the "S(SREG)" editor. holding L and tilting the C-Stick left again flips to the next page, and so on. The editor closes when there are no more pages or when different button combo starts (e.g., holding R and pressing Startonce).

Editors are navigated using the D-Pad to scroll up and down between items, and left and right between possible values. The editor that opens from holding R and pressing Start, "H(HREG)", can be used to activate a debug controller input display by navigating to item 47 and setting its value to nonzero.

When playing NES games, a couple of debug controls will be enabled on the first controller:

L+R - Freezes the emulation when held.

L+C-Stick left/right - Slows down or speeds up the emulation depending on how much the C-Stick is pressed.

Map Select

This page or section needs more images.There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this.

The "forest map select" from Doubutsu no Mori still exists and can be activated using one of the following Action Replay codes and pressing the Reset button once at title screen or twice in-game:

Unobtainable NES Games

The Forbidden Four

In addition to the 15 available NES games, there are four normally unobtainable games dubbed "The Forbidden Four" by fans: Mario Bros., Ice Climber, Super Mario Bros., and The Legend of Zelda. Certain NES game requirements were shifted around in each regional version of the game, which resulted in some obscure methods to obtain them.

In the initial Japanese release, Ice Climber could be obtained as a gift when transferring save data from Doubutsu no Mori (although this service has long since been discontinued), while Super Mario Bros. was given away as a limited-run Famitsu prize.

In North America, Mario Bros. and Ice Climber were obtainable via very rare e-Reader cards in Series 4 of Animal Crossing-e.

The Legend of Zelda is legitimately unavailable in any version.

These games can only be obtained by hacking them into the player's inventory (particularly for European versions, where none of these were ever made available legitimately), as trying to unlock them with a trade code generator will not work. Interestingly, all except The Legend of Zelda have Advance Play options, and in Doubutsu no Mori e+, the Advance Play data still remains via hacking, even though the games were otherwise erased as console items.

Removed Games

On top of the 19 games that can be played, several more are referenced by the game but do not have ROMs or models in the game's data: Gomoku Narabe Renju, Mahjong, Nazo no Murasamejou, Super Mario Bros. 2, and NES Open Tournament Golf.

The only mentions for most of these games are in static.map, though Gomoku Narabe Renju can also be seen referenced at F4C2C.

Chestnut (Unused NPC)

An odd unused NPC, formerly fandubbed "Blazel" can be found within the game's code; their name comes from the fact that her design incorporates several elements of that of both Bliss/Caroline and Hazel. However, recent digging within the files of Doubutsu no Mori + has revealed her Japanese name to be Shaki~tsu (シャキッ), meaning "Chestnut"; immediately following this name is the text "とりゃ〜" (Torya〜), which may have been a catch phrase. These two text files are the last ones in the game's code associated with Chestnut, indicating that she may have been removed late into development. What's odd about this character is that she is listed among the special NPCs in the game; fans have speculated that she may have served as a gardener NPC (similarly to Leif in New Leaf), given how stub methods for wilting and growing flowers can be found alongside her in the game's files. Chestnut can be spawned into a player's town using the below Action Replay code, using xxxx as a regular villager, with yyyy being set to either D06C or E15A.

Because her text data is garbled, Chestnut will use various other characters' dialogue, depending on what yyyy is set to. If she is spawned into a player's town with the above code and yyyy set to D06C, her name will be displayed as "[key symbol] ù«–•B¡¡" (the default name for special NPCs) and she will simply parrot one of Kappn's lines. Setting yyyy to E15A, however, makes her appear recycling Jambette's text data (albeit with a male dialogue box instead of Jambette's female one). This appears to be the result of Jambette's status as the earliest-indexed female villager: since Chestnut lacks functional text data, attempting to spawn her in as a standard villager causes the game to loop around and generate Jambette's text data by default.

Unused Items

To do:Find screenshots of each item; include screenshots of the Unknown Item's inventory sprite and the Sickle's overworld sprite.

Within the coding of the game lie several unused items that can only be accessed by hacking. These include:

DUMMY, a glitch item appearing as a white triangle with red Japanese text on it reading "ダミー" (which translates to "DUMMY", hence the name). Unlike other items, this one can be accessed through a glitch – once in an Igloo (the winter equivalent of a Summer Camper's tent), you obtain the item in a similar way to other furniture. The villager inside might want to play a game where s/he will ask you to pick two cards: one card forces you to buy something, while the other gives you a free prize. The prize card may sometimes be a DUMMY.

The Legend of Zelda appearing as a standard NES that will reset Animal Crossing upon attempting to play.

A blue fish with a hook in its mouth, possibly used to test the fishing function.

A glowing yellow box that moves back and forth, can push the player around (sometimes making them float), and can modify the spread of Paper Airplanes; it was most likely used to test the lighthouse.

A tool labeled "Sickle", which makes the player function as if they had nothing in their hands. Strangely, it appears as a toolbox when dropped, a feature that only appeared in Doubutsu no Mori (evidencing that the icon is still in Animal Crossing's code), Wild World and New Leaf. However, a toolbox can be seen in Animal Island.

An "Unknown Item" that appears in the player's inventory as a box with a question mark, and appears in homes as a clone of DUMMY.

Paper Airplanes which, if you place on the ground, walk offscreen, and come back, will duplicate itself. Pressing A while on top of the paper airplane will make it disappear visibly, but will still exist in the system's memory. When the airplanes fill up an acre, that acre shuts down and is rendered inaccessible. Letting the airplane multiply too much can shut down your entire town and crash the game.

Unused Clothing

Eight unused clothing items exist in the game, and can be added to the first inventory slot using Action Replay codes 01520000 08000000 03266488 0000XXXX (US only), where XXXX is any of the following:

2412: Plum Kimono

2413: Somber Robe

2414: Red Sweatsuit (worn by the Red Team during the Sports Fair)

2415: Blue Sweatsuit (worn by the Blue Team during the Sports Fair)

2416: Red Puffy Vest (worn by females during the Fishing Tourney)

2417: Blue Puffy Vest (worn by males during the Fishing Tourney)

2418: Summer Robe

2419: Bamboo Robe

These items can also be accessed using Universal Codes, accessible from wikias, online guides, or online generators.

Unused Text

At the beginning of string_data.bin is a test line of text.

Test Line of text

Among the catchphrases are some temporary strings of text that indicate catchphrases that haven't been translated.

TRANSLATE

At the beginning of mail_data.bin is some testing related text for letters.

This is mail 0
This is mail 1.

Build Date

Present in the file COPYDATE:

02/08/01 00:16:48

static.str also has the directory from where foresta.rel was compiled:

d:\home\otsuki\Project\GCFOREST\src\bin\HW2\foresta.plf

boot.dol Strings

boot.dol, the game's executable, has a few interesting strings.

Error Messages

Jam/seq :: Sequence Error occerd... I try to continue
OK! YOU ARE GREAT!
:::there is some error in this heap!
Sorry, not prepared for SZP archive.

Other Strings

SHOP PROMOTE VERSION
The DISP SW is JAPAN MODE now but this GAME is NES version
QFC ver.011012 (C)2001 Nintendo

Developer Credit

// Coded by Kawasedo

At D79E1 is comment that matches a string found in the Game Boy Advance Bootstrap ROM, so it is safe to assume that the .dol contains a copy of the GBA Bootstrap and it is not otherwise part of the game.

Resetti Easter Egg

The sixth time you meet Resetti, he will force you to copy what he says by typing it in. However, typing in the following phrases will trigger an Easter egg. Some of these things are somewhat vulgar.